


It's you and me.

by PerfectlyHopeless



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Hunter Guardian (Destiny)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23372815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerfectlyHopeless/pseuds/PerfectlyHopeless
Summary: Things are changing, and Adelaide-5's walking a dangerous line.(Drabble written for my Hunter after she sided with the Drifter and I noticed Colonel still chilling at Cayde's old station.)
Relationships: Ghost & Guardian (Destiny)
Kudos: 2





	It's you and me.

**Author's Note:**

> My Hunter's headcanoned backstory is a result of my being a PC player who never played D1. Her Ghost found her about 50 years before Ghaul's attack on the city, and D1's Guardian died in that attack. Not really necessary to know, but I mention some noncanonical time frames.

* * *

Adelaide-5 sat in the hangar on the rafters above Cayde-6’s old spot. His stuff was still there, untouched, guarded by the Colonel and Hunters like herself. It'd been more than a year now since he died. Was killed. Murdered. They'd avenged him. Gotten Justice. She and Virgil and Petra. But it hurt. 

Ady sighed as she idly fidgeted with her knife, flipping it by the tip of the blade. She stared out at the City and wondered what the hell she was still doing here. 

Cayde had been the one thing holding her to the Vanguard for a long time. He and her Ghost, at least. Virgil had always been in favor of aiding the Vanguard and the City but in the last 50 years, give or take a couple, he'd mellowed into Ady's state of comfortable neutrality, fighting to maintain independence and individuality while letting themselves be a tool in humanity's kit. He valued his sense of self as much as she did. 

He stayed inside while Ady let herself think. She did that a lot, more these days. She didn't speak often, often locked in her own head. And for the first time in all their years together, Virgil didn't know what to say. 

Ady caught her knife by the blade, unbothered by the way it tried to cut her gloves. She could feel Virgil start to speak but cut himself off. She put it into a sheath on her thigh with one hand, while her other grabbed the railing and pulled herself up. Ady flipped up her hood and began walking through the tower. Amanda waved at her in a half-greeting/half-farewell. Ady tapped two fingers to her temple and motioned towards the mechanic, giving as much of a smile as her stiff metal face could manage before she turned on her heel. 

She came out of the hangar and kept her head low as she passed by Zavala's usual spot. There was an uncomfortable tension between them still. Adelaide hadn't forgiven him for his disapproval of going after Uldren. He had his duty, but she couldn't help but think of him as just another thick headed Titan sometimes. Thinking of nothing but saving humanity. And of course it was important. Of course he had reason to have blinders on. But it made the wall between them thicker than ever.

Adelaide stopped by Banshee's place and found herself feeling at ease. His memory was poor but they could still chat. Really chat too, not just Ady being quiet while Virgil did the work for both of them. It was usually about Cayde. Other times about Banshee's work. Ady was always happy to do jobs for him. She logged a few requests for him that would keep her busy. 

The anxiety she had felt over Zavala turned to sadness as she passed Ikora. The two were something like friends but not close enough to be confidants. Ikora had been relatively quiet for months. Ady knew that Ikora and her Ghost weren't getting along well in the recent months, and Ikora was still hurting over the loss of her true friend in the Vanguard. It had to be maddening, not even having comfort from the one who was like your other half. Ady and Virgil could bicker sometimes, but they'd always been friends. Wishing that there was something she could do to help could only go so far when Ikora put on a facade of being okay that she refused to let come down. 

There was nothing for Adelaide to do but wait for her to come out herself. 

Part of her felt ill as she made her way down the stairs and into the Tower's annex. It wasn't well maintained, things tending towards breaking and lights dimmed, which was probably the only reason why the rogue lightbearer was allowed a space down here. As he'd said: out of sight, out of mind. Adelaide hadn't known what to expect when she'd first encountered him. She'd heard passing rumors about the Drifter, everyone had, but it still wasn't enough to prepare herself for the charismatic and chaotic presence of the man. And before she knew it, she was charmed.

She wasn't just another tool. She wasn't just a Guardian to be thrown at problems, though there would always be some of that. She was Adelaide-5. For the first time in her sixth life, she was a person again. It's what compelled her to partner with him. Without a Hunter Vanguard… filling that void with work of a different kind, a far darker and riskier kind, may not have been wise, but it was filled. 

"Adelaide," Virgil finally said from inside. Full name usage… that wasn't good.

Ady took to a wall, her back flat against it as Virgil apparated before her, his triangular shell hovering over her hand before he floated on his own. "What's up?"

"I…" His glowing blue eye blinked. "I need to say something."

"You know I'm listening," she assured him.

He blinked again, his shell shifting around him. "Are we okay?"

Ady's jaw dropped slightly at the sound of hurt in his voice. "Of course we are, V, why would you think we aren't?"

"I keep thinking about what the Drifter said, about not trusting your Ghost. And it's bothering me because I don't even know myself. No one knows what Ghosts really are, but if I was just some tool then why would I have a personality? If I'm just here to bring you back to life when you die then what would be the point…"

"Virgil," Adelaide said, halting his existential crisis. She reached up carefully and took him in her hands, her thumb brushing along his copper colored shell as he let himself be held. "You're not just some tool. You're you. I don't know what you might really be, but none of that matters. You're not limited by the design your creator intended for you. You can make a path that's your own. I'd hope you stay with me…"

"Of course I would."

Ady smiled. "Then it's you and me, just like it's always been." She held him close to her chest and his shell wiggled just a bit, as though to hug her back. "I promise to keep you safe, pal. We've got each other's backs, right?"

"Right," he said, dissipating from her hold and going back inside to say, "I love you."

She smiled, her arms folding over her chest as though to protect him. "I love you too."


End file.
